ThiscomprehensivesourcebookisdestinedtobecomealastinganddefinitivereferenceontheartandaestheticphilosophyoftheAmericanartistDavidSmith(1906-1965).Apioneeroftwentieth-centurymodernism,Smithwasrenownedfortheexpansiveformalandconceptualambitionsofhisbroadlydiverseandinventivewelded-steelabstractions.Hisgroundbreakingachievementsdrewfreelyoncubism,surrealism,andconstructivism,profoundlyinfluencinglatermovementssuchasminimalismandenvironmentalart.Byradicallychallengingolderconventionsofmonolithicfigurationandrefutingarbitrarydistinctionsbetweenpaintersandsculptors,Smithassertedsculpture’sequalroleinadvancingmodernart.ThiscompilationofSmith’spoems,sketchbooknotes,essays,lectures,letterstotheeditor,reviews,andinterviewsunderscoresthewayshiswritingarticulatedhisprivateidentityandpromotedthesocialidealsthatmadehimakeyparticipantincontemporarydiscoursessurroundingmodernism,artandpolitics,andsculpturalaesthetics.EachtextisannotatedbySusanJ.CookewithhistoricalandcontextualinformationthatreflectsSmith’sprocessofcontinuallyreviewingandrevisinghiswritingsinresponsetohisevolvingaspirationsasavisualartist.
